Proving domicile when not living in the U.S.

[darth vader 133]

1 minute ago, aaron2020 said:

1.  No.  Not for Canada.

2.  Yes, they can require your spouse to have an actual US domicile before approving your immigration visa.  

Thanks for answering. How long do they give the folks to move back and provide the proof?

 

Also, I know they can always ask but have you ever seen anyone on this forum who had a valid job offer and still asked to move before visa approval?

[Boiler 45,733]

What differentiates a valid job offer from a job offer?

[darth vader 133]

15 minutes ago, Boiler said:

What differentiates a valid job offer from a job offer?

Nothing. Sorry if it was grammatically incorrect.

[NikLR 13,228]

7 hours ago, darth vader said:

Thanks for answering. How long do they give the folks to move back and provide the proof?

 

Also, I know they can always ask but have you ever seen anyone on this forum who had a valid job offer and still asked to move before visa approval?

It varies how long the 221g is for but generally 60-90 days and it takes them at least that long to review it.  

[darth vader 133]

1 hour ago, NikLR said:

It varies how long the 221g is for but generally 60-90 days and it takes them at least that long to review it.  

I think you may have misunderstood my question - I was asking how much time do they give you to establish domicile and send them the proof. From one other post here I think they give you 1 year. Do you agree?

[gad33 47]

On 10/30/2019 at 9:46 AM, darth vader said:

My U.S.C. spouse is a Canadian PR and we don't have them to lose Canadian residency days by having to move ahead of us. We plan to have the following at the time of the interview:

 

1. Signed apartment lease for an year in the U.S.

2. Very strong chance of securing a U.S. job offer.

 

My questions:

1. Is 1 sufficient?

2. If not, is there any chance they may ask my spouse to move ahead of me even if we have have both 1 & 2? If so, how long do they give the folks to move back and provide the proof?

 

Thanks!

I know this is a very long thread but I am sure that people have been accepted with a signed lease but no job offer.

Also, why do you not want to lose Canadian residency days?

[darth vader 133]

2 hours ago, gad33 said:

I know this is a very long thread but I am sure that people have been accepted with a signed lease but no job offer.

Also, why do you not want to lose Canadian residency days?

That's a long story but basically my wife has been out of Canada for ~8 months already. If she has to move again for domcile and god forbid I get denied for IR1 visa or it takes forever to come (221g), then my wife will have to move back to Canada to meet her residency obligations as a Canadian PR, and her time out of U.S. will look very bad on her Canadian PR renewal application.

Basically, if I dont end up getting green card, I dont want to risk losing my wife's Canadian PR, since that'll separate us forever. That scenario makes me incredibly scared.

[NikLR 13,228]

On 10/30/2019 at 8:48 PM, darth vader said:

I think you may have misunderstood my question - I was asking how much time do they give you to establish domicile and send them the proof. From one other post here I think they give you 1 year. Do you agree?

You get a 221g. They will tell you how long you have if you fail domicile at interview.  I do not agree that it's necessarily 1 year. 

Edit: Do you mean while at NVC?

Edited November 1, 2019 by NikLR

[NikLR 13,228]

5 hours ago, darth vader said:

That's a long story but basically my wife has been out of Canada for ~8 months already. If she has to move again for domcile and god forbid I get denied for IR1 visa or it takes forever to come (221g), then my wife will have to move back to Canada to meet her residency obligations as a Canadian PR, and her time out of U.S. will look very bad on her Canadian PR renewal application.

Basically, if I dont end up getting green card, I dont want to risk losing my wife's Canadian PR, since that'll separate us forever. That scenario makes me incredibly scared.

You two are choosing to move before being eligible for Canadian citizenship.  That's something you should have decided before starting this or being at interview stage. You can delay at the NVC if you havent submitted everything yet. 

[chanimal 1]

Hi All,

 

My wife recently had her interview at the Montreal consulate and was given a 221g requesting my proof of domicile and her passport. I would like to gather your collective thoughts on what we submitted in response to the Consulate Agent's request for more information. The Agent provided her with a Domicile FAQs page and we found the following statement to be interesting:

Quote

"If not submitted to NVC along with the Affidavit of Support form, the petitioner will need to provide the visa applicant with evidence of his or her domicile. The visa applicant will need to bring that evidence to the visa interview for the consular officer to review."

I know that there have been previous messages on this forum thread mentioning the NVC's requirements for proof of domicile to be less rigid than the Consulate's requirements but at the time of submitting the response to the Consulate, we were unaware of these differences. Therefore, our response was as follows:

 

We provided our original Proof of Domicile letter submitted to the NVC and a screenshot of the NVC portal that explicitly states they accepted said letter. We also submitted additional documentation that proves that I have maintained or am re-establishing my domicile in the US, including:

1. One year lease between my parents and I for $0/month (signed after my wife's immigration interview date...)
2. Voter Registration screenshot from official State website
3. Federal Taxes (1040s) from 2015-2018
4. Bank Statements from 2012-2019 (we provided three for each year except for 2019, where we provided every month to show that I have slowly been transferring funds in anticipation of our move) 
5. Canadian Work Visa stating explicit end date, which implies that my stay in Canada is temporary

We hope that this information is sufficient in proving my domicile in the US but something that I failed to mention in our response to the 221g was that my brother is a co-sponsor for my wife's IR1 application and he definitely has domicile in the US. What do you all think? Enough? Not enough? Our lawyer said it was the best we could do at the moment.

 

Thanks for reading such a long post!

 

[Boiler 45,733]

You will see from prior posts that Canada usually wants to see something more akin to residency.

[aaron2020 11,651]

43 minutes ago, chanimal said:

Hi All,

 

My wife recently had her interview at the Montreal consulate and was given a 221g requesting my proof of domicile and her passport. I would like to gather your collective thoughts on what we submitted in response to the Consulate Agent's request for more information. The Agent provided her with a Domicile FAQs page and we found the following statement to be interesting:

I know that there have been previous messages on this forum thread mentioning the NVC's requirements for proof of domicile to be less rigid than the Consulate's requirements but at the time of submitting the response to the Consulate, we were unaware of these differences. Therefore, our response was as follows:

 

We provided our original Proof of Domicile letter submitted to the NVC and a screenshot of the NVC portal that explicitly states they accepted said letter. We also submitted additional documentation that proves that I have maintained or am re-establishing my domicile in the US, including:

1. One year lease between my parents and I for $0/month (signed after my wife's immigration interview date...)
2. Voter Registration screenshot from official State website
3. Federal Taxes (1040s) from 2015-2018
4. Bank Statements from 2012-2019 (we provided three for each year except for 2019, where we provided every month to show that I have slowly been transferring funds in anticipation of our move) 
5. Canadian Work Visa stating explicit end date, which implies that my stay in Canada is temporary

We hope that this information is sufficient in proving my domicile in the US but something that I failed to mention in our response to the 221g was that my brother is a co-sponsor for my wife's IR1 application and he definitely has domicile in the US. What do you all think? Enough? Not enough? Our lawyer said it was the best we could do at the moment.

 

Thanks for reading such a long post!

 

Your brother's domicile is irrelevant.

 

The NVC does not make a determination of domicile.  The Consulate makes that decision.  

 

This is Canada.  You may actually have to move to satisfy the domicile issue.  

Edited November 2, 2019 by aaron2020

[gad33 47]

On 11/1/2019 at 5:22 PM, chanimal said:

Hi All,

 

My wife recently had her interview at the Montreal consulate and was given a 221g requesting my proof of domicile and her passport. I would like to gather your collective thoughts on what we submitted in response to the Consulate Agent's request for more information. The Agent provided her with a Domicile FAQs page and we found the following statement to be interesting:

I know that there have been previous messages on this forum thread mentioning the NVC's requirements for proof of domicile to be less rigid than the Consulate's requirements but at the time of submitting the response to the Consulate, we were unaware of these differences. Therefore, our response was as follows:

 

We provided our original Proof of Domicile letter submitted to the NVC and a screenshot of the NVC portal that explicitly states they accepted said letter. We also submitted additional documentation that proves that I have maintained or am re-establishing my domicile in the US, including:

1. One year lease between my parents and I for $0/month (signed after my wife's immigration interview date...)
2. Voter Registration screenshot from official State website
3. Federal Taxes (1040s) from 2015-2018
4. Bank Statements from 2012-2019 (we provided three for each year except for 2019, where we provided every month to show that I have slowly been transferring funds in anticipation of our move) 
5. Canadian Work Visa stating explicit end date, which implies that my stay in Canada is temporary

We hope that this information is sufficient in proving my domicile in the US but something that I failed to mention in our response to the 221g was that my brother is a co-sponsor for my wife's IR1 application and he definitely has domicile in the US. What do you all think? Enough? Not enough? Our lawyer said it was the best we could do at the moment.

 

Thanks for reading such a long post!

 

Out of all of those, the only one that Montreal Consulate is likely to consider is the lease.  Federal tax returns have to be filed by US Citizens and have to be  provided as part of the application anyway. Item 5 will back up your lease. At this point it is anyone's guess what Montreal will say but be prepared to move to the US before your wife and provide proof that you have established domicile.

[gad33 47]

This is a very long thread and many new posters are not reading any of it before posting the same questions (and often times disagreeing with the answers). So for new posters.

 

MONTREAL IS VERY STRICT ABOUT PROVING (RE)ESTABLISHING DOMICILE.

 

Just because your proof has been accepted by NVC do not assume it will be accepted by Montreal.

 

WHAT MONTREAL WANTS

A job

Somewhere to live

 

If you cannot provide one of these at the time of interview you will get a 221g. Visa will not be issued until either you provide proof satisfactory for the officer or the USC has (re)established domicile in the US.

 

As with everything, there will always be someone who has received their visa with a minimum of evidence but this is an exception so don't argue the point.

[canadavisa22 202]

On 10/30/2019 at 12:52 PM, aaron2020 said:

1.  No.  Not for Canada.

2.  Yes, they can require your spouse to have an actual US domicile before approving your immigration visa.  

#1 is not true. I've been in contact with people who have just recently had their interview at Montreal where both people lived in Canada until the time of the interview and they were approved based on having a signed lease for an apartment.

 

In fact, they also had a job letter, but the Consulate was more concerned with their living arrangements than anything else. They were going to be denied until they provided the leased they had signed.

 

It is possible, and likely, that you will receive your immigrant visa as long as you have living arrangements set up. With that said, a lease seems to be the bar the Consulate wants and not just a letter from family. You don't necessarily have to move back ahead of your spouse in order to satisfy the domicile requirement. 

Edited November 6, 2019 by canadavisa22